1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle and fuel storage system for a vehicle.
2. Background Art
As non-conventional vehicles, such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), begin to gain acceptance, vehicle designers are trying to provide some of the same features in these new vehicles that drivers have come to expect from conventional vehicles. For example, if a vehicle cannot travel more than 300 miles prior to needing to be refueled, it may not be accepted by the average consumer. In the case of FCV's, designers have been challenged to provide storage for enough fuel to ensure that the vehicle can travel 300 miles or more without refueling.
At some level, all designs require addressing competing interests. For example, in the case of increasing the size of a fuel storage system in a vehicle, it is necessary to consider the impact of such an increase on passenger room and comfort, and storage space. An example of a vehicle body integrating a hydrogen fuel tank is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0161934 published on Jul. 28, 2005 (Rife et al.). Rife et al. describes a vehicle frame that includes a floor pan having a centrally positioned tunnel extending the length of the frame, and a fuel tank integrated into the central tunnel. Rife et al. describes an increase in the stiffness of the chassis which results from a larger tunnel, the size of which has been increased to accommodate the fuel tank.
One limitation of the vehicle frame described in Rife et al. is that each different body style must be modified to create a tunnel large enough to accommodate the fuel storage tank. This issue is indicative of unibody construction, in which each vehicle body is formed to meet both the aesthetic and structural requirements of the vehicle. This is in contrast to a body-on-frame architecture, in which many of the structural elements of the body are found in a chassis that is configured to accommodate any of a number of vehicle bodies, thereby making it useful across a number of vehicle platforms. Another limitation of the vehicle frame described in Rife et al. is that configuring the tunnel to accommodate the storage tank necessarily increases the stiffness of the body, which detracts from options available to the vehicle designer.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a fuel storage system for a vehicle that includes a fuel storage tank, and in particular, one capable of storing a compressed gas, that is large enough so the vehicle can travel a long distance before needing to be refueled. In addition, it would be desirable to have a fuel storage system that does not require the vehicle body to be changed in order to accommodate a fuel storage tank. It would also be desirable to have a vehicle having a fuel storage system that does not dictate the stiffness of the vehicle body.